A national project has been launched that should be of benefit to women who have recently given birth.
Led by the University of Stirling, the National Postnatal Care Redesign Project aims to reduce the number of women who receive poor postnatal care.

According to Dr Helen Cheyne, from the university’s School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health, about 30 per cent of women develop urinary incontinence after giving birth, while many more suffer from depression. Yet the expert said that the needs of many new mothers are not being met.”Midwives in the UK have a statutory duty to provide care to women after childbirth for a minimum of ten days,” Dr Cheyne revealed.”However, competing priorities, the more complex health needs of women and increases in interventions during labour and birth have resulted in a system which does not meet the needs of women.”

The project will gather information from across the UK and use it to inform best practice. Elizabeth Duff, senior policy advisor at parenting charity NCT, welcomed the project. She told the BBC: ‘Women and their families are being let down by current postnatal care and improvement is urgently needed.”